Missing Person
by SSBFreak
Summary: (COMPLETE!) Thinking the other is dead after an ambush, can Coco and Dingodile reunite before they go crazy and destroy Cortex themselves?
1. The Village

Chapter one: The Village  
  
The sun rose over a large island, awakening everything on it to a brand new day. The sunlight shone overtop a small village consisting of several houses, shining through the windows and lighting up the inside of the houses.  
  
For one house in particular, the sunlight had just started crawling through the window. The beam of light went across the room and went over a bed where a young, female bandicoot was sleeping. It continued, arcing over a chair and somehow going around a corner into another room.  
  
The light continued until it approached another bed. The beam stopped for a second and peered up, seeing a male bandicoot lying on the bed, sound asleep. Suddenly, the light sped up, going straight into the bandicoot's right eye. This caused the eye to spring open because of the sudden light.  
  
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Crash yawned and smacked his lips as he walked into the kitchen of his house, where he discovered his little sister Coco already awake. She was clearly not tired at all, as she was making herself some breakfast while whistling the Mario Bros. theme. She stopped when she heard her brother come in. She smiled at Crash as she went back to making herself breakfast.  
  
Crash smiled as he thought about how much had changed in the past while. The village had started off as only one house: Crash and Coco's. However, as they got more allies to help battle against Cortex, the amount of houses increased.  
  
Dr. N. Brio was actually the first ally Crash and Coco ended up getting. After helping destroy the Cortex Vortex, N. Brio stayed with Crash and Coco, building his own house that doubled as a lab. He had helped the Bandicoot siblings by building all the gadgets they used in their adventures after he joined.  
  
Sooner than later, Crunch Bandicoot also joined. He was extremely grateful for the Bandicoot siblings breaking him from Cortex's mind control. Grateful enough that he stuck with the two and helped them on several occasions. Crunch had soon become a great friend to everyone in the village.  
  
While Crash was upset to fight his friends in the whole N. Trance ordeal, he was pleased that he met a new ally, which was created accidentally: Fake Crash, or FC for short. He fought just like Crash, but after being released from N. Trance's control, FC helped Crash defeat the warped alien scientist. He had been helping everyone since.  
  
When Aku Aku and Uka Uka were at each other's necks again (even though neither of them HAVE necks), they had decided to have a second competition. Seeing the team Cortex picked, Aku Aku decided to even the odds in his favour, transporting Tiny and Dingodile to his side. He promised them both that he could set them free, and it seemed to work. Crash's team won the competition, and Tiny and Dingodile had become friends with everyone.  
  
Things were going normally one day until Crunch spotted a strange creature hopping into the village. Crash, Coco, Aku Aku, Tiny and N. Brio recognized the creature as Ripper Roo. He still talked by laughing, but luckily, Aku Aku had translated it. Apparently, Cortex forgot to put the lock on Ripper's cage, leaving him free to escape, and that he wanted to help defeat Cortex. After finding out he was telling the truth, everyone helped Rippier Roo out of his straight jacket, at long last.  
  
Crash had saved the skin of a local doctor during an invasion. The doctor, a Platypus named Tork, was grateful for Crash's help and offered to set off an office in the village, as his old one had been burned to the ground. Dr. Tork had been looking after everyone since.  
  
Now, there were several houses in the village. Crunch had his own house, as did Ripper Roo, Tiny and Dingodile. N. Bio had a house which doubled as a lab, and Dr. Tork had a house which doubled as a doctor's office. There was even a spare house which was more the less for Aku Aku briefing everyone for a new mission.  
  
After making and eating breakfast, Crash left his house to take a walk. Coco had finished breakfast first and had already gone outside. Outside, Crash saw Crunch and Tiny sparring with each other, training for a future battle. N. Brio was working at his outside chemistry table as Dingodile was making some adjustments to his flame-thrower. Ripper Roo stood on a rock, staring off at the gorgeous sunrise while Coco sat nearby, typing stuff down on her laptop. FC stood to himself, dancing slowly to non-existent music.  
  
Crash walked down the steps to his house and sighed as he shoved his hands into his pockets. Life was good.  
  
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Cortex shouted stuff that would make Yosemite Sam shameful as he angrily kicked a pile of metal. Crash had recently foiled Cortex's latest plan for world domination and what he was kicking was the wreckage of his main machine. Cortex suddenly kicked the wreckage too hard and stubbed his toe. He started hopping around on one foot as he continued his shouting. Some of his minions stood to the side, staring strangely at their master's show.  
  
Komodo Joe turned to the short scientist beside him. "Has Cortex always been like this since my brother and I have been away?"  
  
N. Gin nodded. "If Uka Uka wasn't punishing him, yes. Every time Crash defeats him."  
  
Koala Kong shook his head. "He's lost it." He said.  
  
Pinstripe smirked. "No. That implies that he's had it before."  
  
The giant koala chuckled lightly at the quick joke. Rilla Roo, the monkey- beaver, scratched his head as he remained silent. Uka Uka, who floated overhead, sighed in hopelessness at Cortex.  
  
When Cortex was finally able to stand on his foot again, he stormed over to his minions. "What are you boneheads saying about me?!" He roared.  
  
"N-Nothing, sir!" All the minions except Rilla Roo said. Said mutant simply stared down at Cortex with a confused expression.  
  
"Never mind." The vertically challenged man said. He turned to his equally short henchman. "Is the backup machine done?"  
  
N. Gin shook his head. "Not quite. We just need a few adjustments and it'll be ready."  
  
"Good." Cortex looked up at Uka Uka. "Once this next machine is finished, we will be able to defeat Crash with the greatest weapons of all!"  
  
"You had better be right this time." Uka Uka growled.  
  
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Coco sighed as she typed on her laptop. Crash was laying beside her, sounds asleep, snoring like a train. She was always wondering how Crash could fall asleep so fast so soon after waking up, but never questioned it. She had done little more in the past few hours than type on her laptop. She looked down at Crash and decided to talk to some of the others. Closing the laptop, Coco picked it up and walked away from Crash.  
  
Still, Coco didn't know who to talk to. If she got too close to Tiny and Crunch while they were sparring, they'd probably accidentally wallop her. She didn't want to pester N. Brio while he was working either. The last time someone did that, Brio accidentally used the wrong solution and accidentally turned Crash purple for a week. She couldn't talk with Ripper Roo. She wouldn't understand him anyway. Her animal friend Pura had gone hunting for a couple hours and hadn't come back yet. FC was a possibility, but Coco found him asleep as well.  
  
Coco spotted Dingodile sitting on a large rock, looking at the wonderful view of the ocean, clouds and blue sky. She figured that he needed some company and walked over to him.  
  
"Hey, Dingodile." Coco greeted cheerfully.  
  
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Dingodile smiled as he sat on the rock, staring at the scene that lay before him. Truth be told, he had never taken the time to enjoy such a wonderful view. The whole time he was under Cortex's power, all he did besides hang around in Cortex's dark castle, he was busy fighting Crash, which was usually a battle that didn't last very long. He was glad that Aku Aku had kept his promise to free him and Tiny. Otherwise, they'd still be getting punishment from Cortex.  
  
Another thing Dingodile was grateful for was the fact that he had so many friends now. Up until he switched sides, the only real friend he had was Tiny. N. Brio had joined Crash long before Dingodile started fighting him. Ripper Roo seemed like an okay creature, but Dingodile could never understand what he was saying. None of the others were very kind to Dingodile. And Cortex was ten times worse. Tiny was the only one friendly to Dingodile, and taught the half-and-half what 'friendship' meant.  
  
Now, he felt that he and Tiny had made the right choice on switching sides on Cortex. Not only was he treated like a living creature, but he had become friends with everyone in the village, despite his looks. And although he didn't want to let anyone know, not even Tiny, he had a crush on Crash's little sister, Coco.  
  
Dingodile's thoughts were broken when he heard a voice coming from behind him.  
  
"Hey, Dingodile." A sweet voice greeted cheerfully.  
  
Dingodile's eyes sprang open, instantly recognizing the voice as Coco's. His heartbeat raced as he looked over his shoulder to find himself staring at Coco's beautiful eyes. "Hey, Coco." He replied.  
  
"Whatcha doing?" Coco asked, walking over to him.  
  
"Oh, just sitting here, admiring the view." Dingodile replied.  
  
"I can see that." Coco chuckled. "But why?"  
  
Dingodile shrugged. "I guess it's because before I joined you guys, I've never actually enjoyed a scene like this, living in Cortex's castle and all." He explained.  
  
Coco nodded in understanding. "I see. I've always enjoyed scenes like this too." She stated. "You mind if I join you?"  
  
Dingodile quickly nodded as he scooted over. "Sure."  
  
Coco sat down on the rock beside Dingodile as they both stared off into the horizon. They were both silent for a few minutes until Dingodile broke the silence. He turned to look at Coco. "Coco, I just want to thank you for everything you and Crash have done for Tiny and I since we decided to join you." He said.  
  
Coco laughed lightly. "There's no need to thank me again, Dingodile." She replied. "That was seven months ago and you and Tiny have already thanked us."  
  
Dingodile looked down. "I know, but I just can't get my mind off it." He said. "If you guys hadn't done anything, Tiny and I would still be slaves to Cortex and would still be being forced to fight you guys."  
  
Coco's smile vanished. "Believe me, Dingodile. I wouldn't want that." She said, thinking of what could have happened if Aku Aku hadn't chosen Dingodile and Tiny to free from Cortex.  
  
"Neither would I." Dingodile replied, looking at Coco again.  
  
Dingodile and Coco found themselves staring into each other's eyes rather than at the horizon.  
  
{She's so beautiful.} Dingodile thought to himself. {I wish there was an easy way to tell her that I like her.}  
  
{Why do I suddenly feel strange?} Coco thought at the same time. {It seems that it's only when I'm around Dingodile. Why?}  
  
Suddenly, both Dingodile and Coco were brought out of their thoughts when they heard a loud, yet young, growl coming from the village. Coco looked over her shoulder as the growling continued. "That's sounds like Pura." She said.  
  
"Let's see what's up." Dingodile suggested.  
  
Coco agreed as they walked into the village. They saw everyone else, even Crash and FC, standing around a young tiger cub. He seemed to be exhausted, as if he had been running for a while. Coco raised an eyebrow as she and Dingodile walked over to him.  
  
Coco looked down at her animal friend. "Pura, where were you?" She asked.  
  
Turning around and, using one of his paws, Pura pointed off into the distance. Everyone saw that what Pura was pointing at was a castle on the other side of the island and up a mountain.  
  
Crunch's eyes widened. "What were you doing at Cortex's castle?!" The large bandicoot demanded.  
  
Pura quickly leapt onto his hind legs. He held his front left paw against his side, as if to indicate something short.  
  
"Cortex." N. Brio said.  
  
Pura nodded. Suddenly, he started shaking both front paws into the air with a mad look on his face.  
  
"He's angry." Coco said.  
  
Again, Pura nodded. He did something again, this time grabbing his hind left paw and hopping around on the other, growling loudly.  
  
"He was shouting." Dingodile said.  
  
Pura nodded again. This time, he reared back and let out an insane, high- pitched laugh.  
  
"He's got a new plan to destroy Crash?" Crunch asked.  
  
Pura nodded a final time as he got back on all fours. Aku Aku looked down at the tiger. "Did you overhear how he intends to do this?" The mask asked. Pura replied by shaking his head back a forth, indicating a no. Aku Aku turned to everyone else. "Everyone get inside the briefing station. We'll talk about it there."  
  
To be continued...  
  
Author's notes: Well, the first chapter is finished! Don't expect this story to be overly long. Maybe seven chapters at the most. Please read and review! 


	2. Ambush

Note to Wolfkeeper 989: I took a look at your fic. Sorry I haven't reviewed it though. Don't take it wrong, I like the fic!  
  
Notes to everyone else who reviewed: Thanks! I didn't expect five reviews on the first chapter! Man, you'd think I was the fist to do a Dingodile/Coco.  
  
Chapter two: Ambush  
  
Inside the briefing station, Aku Aku floated above everyone else, giving instructions. Pura had come back to the village and acted out that Cortex was building a new machine to destroy Crash, but he never found out how he intended to do so. The only one absent from the group was Dr. Tork, as he wasn't actually a fighting member of the team.  
  
"Okay. We don't know what Cortex is planning to use that machine for." Aku Aku said. "It might be disastrous!"  
  
Crash instantly stood straight, nodded, threw out his chest and pounded on it with one fist. Shortly after, he broke into a weak coughing spell.  
  
The floating mask shook back and forth, indicating a no. "Sorry Crash, but you're not going. If you fell into Cortex's trap, anything could happen, especially when we don't know what he's planning."  
  
Slowly, Crunch spoke up. "I get what you're saying. We need to send someone to spy on Cortex to see what he's up to."  
  
Aku Aku nodded. "Yes. Once the people we send find out what Cortex is up to, they will come back, explain it to us and THEN it will be safe for us to send Crash."  
  
"Then it's settled." Crunch proclaimed, standing straight. "I'll go."  
  
"Again, no." Aku Aku replied. "Someone your size will be too noticeable. That leaves Tiny out, too. I need someone to volunteer for this mission."  
  
Everyone was silent. Crash and Crunch wanted to go, but weren't allowed. Tiny also wanted to go, but he too wasn't allowed to leave. After several seconds of silence, everyone heard a soft sigh. "Very well. I'll go."  
  
Everyone turned to the source of the voice, finding themselves staring directly at Coco. No one could believe what Coco had just said. She had just volunteered for a dangerous mission, possibly more dangerous than running through a hallway of spikes and fireballs, something Crash has done several times in the past.  
  
Dingodile stared at Coco with more shock than anyone else. He couldn't believe that Coco was willing to risk her neck on something like this. {She's crazy!} He thought. He was silent in his thoughts for a few more seconds. {But so am I.}  
  
"Then I'll go with you." Dingodile said out loud, stepping up to Coco's side. He knew that she'd need protection, and he was willing to risk his life for her.  
  
Aku Aku was silent for a few seconds, but finally nodded. "Very well. You two may leave anytime, but it has to be soon."  
  
Coco nodded, Dingodile quickly copying her. The floating mask continued. "If no one hears from either of you within two days, we'll assume something happened to you and send a search party." He instructed. Again, the mismatched duo nodded. The mask continued. "Okay. This meeting is adjourned."  
  
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Coco stood near her bed as she shoved several items into her backpack, including her laptop. If she was going to walk to Cortex's castle, she should be prepared. Well, she figured that if Dingodile was going with her, she'd be able to find out why she felt to strange around him.  
  
Coco suddenly stopped packing when she heard someone enter her room. Turning around, Coco saw her big brother leaning against the doorway, a concerned look in his eyes. Coco read the expression and sighed. "I know you're worried about me Crash, but don't worry." She assured. "I'm old enough to take care of myself. And if anything happens, Dingodile will be with me."  
  
That didn't seem to make Crash feel better. Coco continued. "I know you don't exactly trust him, but I do." She said. "I know he'll try his hardest to help me if anything happens."  
  
Crash sighed and slowly nodded. He walked over to Coco and wrapped his arms around her. If anything happened to her and he wasn't there, he'd never forgive himself.  
  
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Dingodile stood around the back of his hut, recharging his flame-thrower. He knew that this mission was going to be dangerous, and he'd need as much power as his flame-thrower could handle. Not only would running out of power in the middle of a fight endanger him, but Coco as well. The last thing he wanted was Coco getting hurt by one of the evil characters that he once worked with.  
  
Dingodile finished charging his weapon as he pulled it from the fuel tank. Suddenly, he heard footsteps coming from behind. Turning around, Dingodile saw Tiny approaching. Dingodile smirked. "Hey, Tiny."  
  
"Hello, Dingodile." Tiny replied. He got straight to the point. "Why does Dingodile want to go on dangerous mission? Not even Ripper Roo wanted to go."  
  
Dingodile replied with a sigh. He wasn't sure how to answer that without giving away his secret about him liking Coco. "I dunno. I just think Coco might need someone to protect her if anything happens." He replied.  
  
"Dingodile cares for cute bandicoot girl?" Tiny asked.  
  
The half-and-half gulped nervously. "Yeah, I guess I do." He replied. "But so does Crash, Aku Aku and the others. I'd bet that you care for her as well, don't you?"  
  
Tiny nodded. "Yes. Tiny care for Coco."  
  
Dingodile exhaled in relief. His secret was safe, at least for the time being. "Well, I'd better get ready to go."  
  
Tiny nodded. "Tiny hope Dingodile and Coco make it back safe." He said.  
  
"So do I, Tiny." Dingodile said, looking down.  
  
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Dingodile and Coco stood at the edge of the village, as everyone else was seeing them off. Everyone, even Aku Aku, was worried that neither Coco or Dingodile would come back alive, but had faith that the two of them knew what they were doing.  
  
"Like I said earlier, we'll wait two days for you to return." Aku Aku instructed. "If neither of you come back, a search party will be sent out to look for you."  
  
"We understand, Aku Aku." Coco said.  
  
Dingodile nodded. "We'll try to make it back by then."  
  
After the duo had said their goodbyes to everyone, they turned around and started walking away from the village, starting their trek to Cortex's castle.  
  
However, unknown to anyone, a small, metal probe hovered in the trees, watching the whole thing. Thinking it saw enough, it turned around and flew off in the direction of Cortex's castle.  
  
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Cortex stood in front of a window as he saw a tiny, round object rise from the trees and start taking off in his direction. The evil scientist smirked as the probe raced towards him in seconds, overtop a jungle that would take hours to walk through.  
  
Suddenly, Cortex saw that the probe was coming in a little too fast. His eyes sprang open as he dove to the side, and just as the probe soared in through the window, going straight into the stone wall on the other side of the room.  
  
"I've still got a few bugs to work out." Cortex said to himself as he picked himself up and walked over to where the probe had planted itself. Plucking it off the wall, Cortex pressed a button on the probe. A hologram projected from the probe, showing Dingodile and Coco leaving the village.  
  
Seeing this, Cortex smirk got ever bigger. "Perfect!" He said to himself as he dropped the probe and scurried from the room.  
  
Outside the room, Cortex walked over to the railing of a staircase so tall that the bottom was barely visible.  
  
"N. GIN!!" Cortex roared down the staircase. He saw N. Gin walk out on the bottom floor and look up at Cortex.  
  
"YES, SIR?!?!" N. Gin screamed back.  
  
"COCO AND DINGODILE HAVE LEFT THE VILLAGE!!!" Cortex replied. "CALL KOALA KONG WITH THE VISICAM REMOTE!!!"  
  
"THE BOAT?!?!" N. Gin shouted, not hearing the last part.  
  
"NO!! THE REMOTE!!!" Cortex shouted.  
  
"THE GOAT?!?!"  
  
"NO!!!!! THE RE-MOTE!!!!" The mad scientist roared, frustrated at the insane height of the staircase.  
  
"OH, THE REMOTE!!"  
  
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Many hours passed. The sun had set and the moon had risen. The duo of Coco and Dingodile were walking through the thick jungle, batting away branches with their arms. With the progress they were making, they figured that they would be able to reach Cortex's castle by tomorrow morning, and be back in the village by the evening.  
  
Sure, Coco had talked with Dingodile a good amount, getting to know him more, but the young bandicoot still couldn't shake the unusual feeling that she felt when she was around him. It was almost as if she was glad that Dingodile said that he would go with her. Not just to protect her, either. Dingodile had saved both of their necks a couple of times already by using his flame-thrower to fend off a couple of wild boars. The pair had eaten thanks to Coco packing some food in her backpack.  
  
Coco suddenly realized that she was starting to fall behind a little. She quickly caught up with Dingodile and sighed to herself. She'd think about this later, but she promised herself that she'd find out what these feelings were soon.  
  
Eventually, after a good several minutes of brushing away branches, Dingodile spoke up. "Hey, Coco! I think we're coming to a break in the trees! It looks like a clearing!" He said.  
  
Coco sighed in relief. "That's good. We can rest up a little there and then continue on." She explained. Dingodile replied with a nod.  
  
Coco found out that Dingodile was right. It was a complete clearing, revealing the cloudless night sky to them for the first time since they started their journey. She realized that there was no grass in this clearing. Just rock. She quickly noticed a ledge close by, and walked over to it. Dingodile decided to follow her and look down himself.  
  
Both of them looked over the edge. The only thing they were seeing besides the wall of the cliff was the water of the lake hundreds of feet below.  
  
Coco's eyes widened. "...Whoa..." She said, slowly backing away from the edge of the cliff.  
  
"Yeah. I'd hate to go down that way." Dingodile added, also backing away.  
  
"I wonder how far down it is." Coco said.  
  
"I dunno. Looks like it might be over three hundred, though." Her travel companion replied.  
  
Both Coco and Dingodile were silent as they looked away from the cliff, into each other's eyes.  
  
{Oh, how I wish I could just tell her how I feel!} Dingodile thought. {I don't want to hold my feelings in for much longer!}  
  
{Those eyes. His personality. His way of helping everyone. He sure is a great guy.} Coco thought. She suddenly realized what she was thinking. The answer she had been looking for suddenly came before her. {My feelings! Could they be-}  
  
Coco's thoughts were interrupted when she saw Dingodile suddenly look away from her, staring into the jungle with a suspicious look on his face.  
  
"What is it, Dingodile?" Coco asked.  
  
Dingodile quickly turned to Coco and placed a finger to his mouth, indicating her to keep quiet. Suddenly, he ripped his flame-thrower from its holster on the tank and held it, ready to fire.  
  
"I think there's someone out there..." Dingodile said cautiously.  
  
"You're very right, my friend." A voice from the jungle hissed.  
  
Coco stared in surprise as a group of figures emerged from the jungle. The group was a mixed bag of Cortex's minions consisting of Koala Kong, Pinstripe, the Komodo Bros. and Rilla Roo. Coco wisely stood behind Dingodile, looking around him to stare at the group of minions.  
  
Dingodile growled. "What do you guys want?!"  
  
Koala Kong chuckled. "Cortex wants us to bring you two back to him."  
  
"Kong, you fool! You weren't supposed to TELL them!" Pinstripe said, aiming his Tommy Gun at the pair standing by the cliff's edge. "Honestly, I don't know why Cortex let YOU lead us."  
  
Dingodile growled loudly. "Well, too bad! I'm not gonna go down without a fight, and there's NO WAY you're taking Coco!" He roared.  
  
Coco looked up at Dingodile with surprise. He was protecting her from these jerks, willing to risk himself for her. Coco realized her feelings for Dingodile right then and there, but decided not to say anything due to the predicament they were currently in.  
  
In the meantime, Koala Kong chuckled. "Very well." He turned to the others. "Let's get em!"  
  
Pinstripe smirked and cocked his gun, his finger raised over the trigger. The Komodo Bros. raised their swords and swung them around a few times. Rilla Roo grinned happily and clapped his hands as he jumped in place.  
  
"The odds are five to two." Coco told Dingodile.  
  
Dingodile smirked. "That's good enough for me."  
  
The Komodo Bros. ran at Dingodile, but the mutant creature had seen this. He charged at the oncoming lizard duo in an attempt to lure them away from Coco. He stretched his hands out sideways, clobbering both lizards in the faces.  
  
Coco was too busy watching Dingodile's show that she didn't notice Rilla Roo and Pinstripe approaching her. Only when she felt Rilla Roo's arms close around her shoulders did she notice their presence. She prevented herself from screaming, knowing that it would distract Dingodile. Coco instead jumped into the air, high enough for Rilla Roo to lose his grip on her. Coco gracefully flipped over the monkey mutant and landed a hard kick to his back, knocking him away  
  
Landing on her feet, Coco quickly saw Pinstripe readying his gun to fire it. Coco ran at the gangster wannabe and leapt into the air. Before Pinstripe had time to fire his gun, the airborne bandicoot had kicked his gun, making it fly from his hands. Coco quickly continued with a pair of kicks to his face as she started falling to the ground. Coco quickly landed on her hands and shot her feet out one final time, knocking Pinstripe off his own feet.  
  
Dingodile used his extra-tough flame-thrower as a shield to fend off the Komodo Bros. sword swings, and was currently successful at doing it. Granted, he wasn't as graceful or as skilled in hand combat as Coco, but he was definitely holding his own, using his tail to trip one of the brothers while kicking the other at the same time. As Dingodile was taking care of Komodo Joe, Komodo Moe raised his sword into the air from behind to finish him off. Luckily, Dingodile saw this out of the corner of his eye and quickly turned around, swinging his flame-thrower to strike the bigger lizard in the stomach, making Komodo Moe bend over to catch his breath.  
  
Suddenly, Dingodile again saw something out of the corner of his eye. This time, he saw Komodo Joe slowly getting to his feet. Thinking quick, Dingodile spun around and swung his flame-thrower upwards. His tail knocked Komodo Moe off his feet and the flame-thrower club had found its way to Komodo Joe's face. The younger lizard brother spun around once after the impact before collapsing to the ground.  
  
Dingodile looked down at the defeated lizards, breathing heavily. It was only then did he realize that Koala Kong hadn't taken part in the fight at all. Dingodile looked in the direction of Koala Kong just in time to see that giant bear lunging at him, preparing for a massive punch.  
  
Dingodile wasn't prepared for this at all, and took the blow. The force from the punch sent Dingodile flying into the air, and flying back even further. Dingodile flew back several yards...  
  
...Right over the cliff.  
  
"DINGODILE!!!!" Coco screamed.  
  
To be continued... 


	3. Sorrow

Note to redwalgrl: I've seen your fic. It's good, and as long as Dingodile doesn't end up with another guy, I'm satifsied.  
  
Chapter three: Sorrow  
  
Coco watched in horror as Dingodile vanished below the cliff's edge. She knew that no one could survive a fall like that, and was too scared to look at him fall. As soon as she heard a loud splash, Coco finally snapped out of her shock, burying her face in her hands and crying heavily. She couldn't believe what had just happened. Just a few moments ago, Dingodile was with her, protecting her from Cortex's minions. Then, in a single breath, he was taken from her.  
  
The young bandicoot cried harder, thinking of how she had realized her feelings for Dingodile right before the fight, and he was killed before she could tell him.  
  
Suddenly, she felt a pair of firm hands grab hold of her shoulders. Snapping her head up and daring to look over her shoulder, Coco saw the sneering face of Pinstripe, sporting his newly acquired black eye.  
  
"Great work, guys." Koala Kong said proudly. "Those two didn't stand a chance against us!"  
  
"That's easy for you to say!" Komodo Moe accused. "You did virtually nothing during the whole battle, and we were supposed to bring them BOTH back!"  
  
Rilla Roo growled and cracked his knuckles at Koala Kong, clearly agreeing with the elder Komodo brother.  
  
Pinstripe sighed. "Just drop it, guys." He said, picking up Coco and slinging her over his shoulder. "We at least got one of them."  
  
The other minions silently agreed as they started walking away. Coco, meanwhile, was thinking of a means of escape. {What would Crash do if he was in a position like this?} She thought. {He'd either fall asleep or spin around.} She sighed. Coco figured that there was no way out of this one. Suddenly, her eyes widened. Would Dingodile want her to let herself be captured? {No way!} She thought, her face hardening.  
  
Coco quickly swung her foot down to strike Pinstripe in the chest. That made Pinstripe loosen his grip on her due to having the wind knocked out of him.  
  
As soon as Pinstripe let go of her, Coco jumped to the ground and started running away, flying past the other minions. Coco knew that if she ran back into the jungle, she be able to lose them. Coco ran towards the jungle, thinking that she was as good as safe.  
  
Or so she thought. Komodo Joe tried to stop her by lashing out his sword. The sword sliced across Coco right arm, slicing off her sleeve at the same time. Coco shouted in pain, but never stopped running. She was running so fast that the flower in her hair had fallen off, landing on the ground.  
  
With a bleeding arm and the rest of the minions running after her, Coco charged headfirst into the jungle.  
  
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/- /-/  
  
The blood rushed to Dingodile's head as he fell headfirst from the edge of the cliff, doing a free-fall towards the water far, far below. Hearing Coco screaming his name was enough to almost bring him to tears. She was clearly horrified that he'd no longer be with her.  
  
Dingodile knew that Coco was in danger, and he didn't want to die knowing that. As quick as he could, Dingodile turned over and grabbed a rock sticking out of the side of the cliff. His feet swung down, striking a rock with enough force to dislodge it from the cliff, sending it down to the water, creating a loud splash.  
  
Dingodile quickly looked up and started climbing. He had to get to Coco before Cortex's minions hurt her. That was enough to give Dingodile the extra energy to climb quicker.  
  
Soon enough, Dingodile was almost at the top. His confidence was high, feeling that he would get to the top and save Coco. However, just as he got within the final few meters, he heard a pair of noises that sent a chill down his spine: A sword connecting to flesh and Coco shouting in pain. Fearing that he was too late, Dingodile scrambled to get the to top of the cliff.  
  
Dingodile reached the top of the cliff and climbed up. He stood up and looked around. No one was around. Cortex's minions and Coco were nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, something caught Dingodile's eyes. He saw a piece of red fabric laying on the ground several feet away.  
  
Curiously, Dingodile walked over to the object. However, once he saw what it was, he became overcome with horror. The piece of red fabric was the sleeve of a shirt. Slowly, Dingodile got down on his knees and gently picked up the sleeve. As soon as he did, he felt something strange on his fingers. Holding the sleeve in one hand, he looked at his other hand, eyes widening. The sleeve wasn't red, but was instead white. The substance that made it look red was blood. Dingodile started shaking, realizing what this meant.  
  
Coco was dead.  
  
Dingodile spotted something else sitting nearby. Reaching out to grab it, Dingodile saw that it was a small flower. Dingodile brought the flower close to his face as a tear fell from his eye.  
  
{So beautiful. So fragile.} Dingodile thought. {Just like Coco...}  
  
Dingodile couldn't hold his emotions in any longer. He buried his face in his hands and started crying.  
  
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/- /-/-/-/-/  
  
Coco sniffed as she sat on the branch of a tree, which was a good thirty feet off the ground. Running through the jungle, Coco had quickly found the tree and scurried up it with a strangely quick climb. She was still puzzled at how she climbed it so easily. But then again, she had heard that in a state of panic, someone's abilities could be slightly heightened.  
  
Currently, Coco was wrapping her wounded shoulder with a roll of medical bandage from the medi-kit in her backpack. All of Cortex's minions were long gone, running past the tree, oblivious that they had passed their victim.  
  
Coco finished wrapping the bandage around her shoulder, and once she did, she curled into a ball and cried into her knees. She still couldn't believe that Dingodile was dead, killed by the very vile creatures he used to work with.  
  
He died trying to protect her, and judging by the looks he always had around her she would bet that he was always willing to do so. Still, she felt horrible. She only just realized her feelings for him and then he was killed before she had a chance to tell him. Every time she thought about it, her heart ached beyond belief.  
  
Suddenly, Coco felt something wet hit against the back of her head multiple times. Looking up from her crying, she saw that it was raining.  
  
Coco sighed. {Great. It can't get any worse.} She thought.  
  
Lightning struck, quickly followed by a loud clash of thunder. Coco instantly shot into a sitting position and wrapped her arms around the tree trunk, whimpering.  
  
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/- /-/-/-/-/-/  
  
Dingodile's eyes widened when he heard the thunder. He was too busy crying to notice the lightning. He looked up and saw raindrops starting to fall from the sky.  
  
{Great. It's raining.} He thought.  
  
Dingodile didn't care about the rain though. And he was never afraid of thunderstorms. Tiny, however, was terrified of them. Every time one hit the village, Dingodile spent a good deal of the time trying to comfort Tiny and tell him that there was nothing to worry about. Dingodile had also heard that Coco was also afraid of thunderstorms, and often relied on Crash to comfort her.  
  
Again, fresh tears came to Dingodile's eyes. He was thinking about Coco again. He couldn't believe it. The one girl he had loved since he first saw her. The one thing that made him feel wonderful whenever he saw her. He wanted to reveal his feelings to her, but now he would never get the chance. She was gone. Dead. Destroyed by the minions of Cortex.  
  
...Cortex...  
  
A low growl escaped Dingodile's throat. The vile doctor had done many evil things to him in the past, but this was the last straw.  
  
{It wasn't enough that you took both halves of me from my parents when they were young.} Dingodile thought. {It wasn't enough that you killed my dingo AND crocodile parents. It wasn't enough that you killed all the friends both halves had because they were merely in the way. Now that wasn't enough for you! You had to do this!}  
  
Lightning hit the ground again followed by a menacing thunder clash. That somehow fueled Dingodile's anger even further. He slowly stood up as he looked down. The rain had washed most of the blood from Coco's sleeve reverting it back to its normal white hue. He gingerly picked up he flower as attached it to one of the straps on his flame- thrower. He wanted to keep it, as it was the only thing he had of Coco's.  
  
Slowly, Dingodile turned towards the jungle. "You've made your final kill, Cortex." He growled.  
  
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/- /-/-/-/-/  
  
Coco continued crying as her hair became soaked with rain. The lightning and thunder were scaring her greatly, but she tried to control her fear, as there was no one around to comfort her.  
  
Coco's eyes watered more, thinking about Dingodile again. She had heard that Tiny was just as scared at thunderstorms as she was, and Dingodile was always comforting him, assuring him that nothing was wrong. Just thinking of how much Dingodile looked out for everyone else made Coco even more upset that he was gone.  
  
She wished that she could've been given another chance, but it was no use. He was gone forever, taken by Cortex's minions.  
  
Suddenly, Coco narrowed her eyes and growled, thinking of Cortex. The scientist had done so much evil that Coco had been wanting to take him out herself. Now, she had a full reason to destroy Cortex once and for all. He had his minions kill the guy she had just found out that she had loved.  
  
{You've kidnapped Crash's girlfriend, tricked him into thinking you reformed, tried to control the word via time, used cheap tricks in the competitions, brainwashed poor Crunch and even shrank the world.} Coco thought. {But now, you're evil days are over for good!}  
  
"For killing Dingodile, I'll destroy you!!" Coco shouted as she started climbing down the tree.  
  
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/- /-/-/-/-/-/-/  
  
"For murdering Coco, I'll kill you for good!!" Dingodile shouted as he charged headfirst into the jungle.  
  
To be continued...  
  
Author's notes: Sorry that the chapter is short, but I couldn't think of enough filler. Please read and review! 


	4. Dingodile's Attempt

Chapter four: Dingodile's Attempt  
  
Dingodile ran through the jungle, batting away branches like they weren't even there. The rain fell heavily on his head, but nothing else mattered to him. Coco was dead and he was determined to avenge her, even if it meant sacrificing himself to destroy Cortex. In one hand, he clenched the handle of his flame-thrower in anger so tightly that he felt his knuckles turning white.  
  
The furious creature tore through the jungle for a good twenty minutes without getting tired. The adrenaline fueled by his anger seemed to be giving him more energy. He knew exactly where to go, as he had always been in Cortex's castle.  
  
A good while later, Dingodile had finally spotted Cortex's castle sitting on the top of a cliff. He smirked evilly as he charged forward once more, running up the slope of the cliff that led to the castle doors.  
  
Dingodile quickly found himself standing at the doors. They were obviously locked, so he decided to break in using force. Dingodile stepped back a few meters and aimed his flame-thrower at the doors. He pulled the trigger, firing a huge fireball at the doors, breaking them down like they were nothing. Smiling slyly to himself, Dingodile marched into the castle.  
  
Several hallways instantly greeted Dingodile. He knew which way would lead him to Cortex, but he wanted to make sure that his minions weren't alerted when they heard Cortex screaming. He walked down the far left hallway, flame-thrower ready for anything.  
  
Dingodile eventually came across his target: The door that led to the camera station. Finding out where in the castle everyone was would cut his time greatly. However, he saw his rival, Rilla Roo, marching back and forth across the door as if to guard it. He saw a long, large, open entrance to another hall, which gave him an idea. Dingodile smirked. This would be a piece of cake.  
  
Silently, Dingodile snuck around Rilla Roo and jumped behind the wall on the other side of the entrance. He dared to look around the corner and whistled.  
  
Rilla Roo heard the whistle, turned around, and saw nothing there. Curiosity getting the better of the extremely stupid underling of Cortex, Rilla Roo walked towards the entrance, where he had heard the whistling.  
  
The monkey walked in front of the entrance, and at the same time, Dingodile did as well. When Rilla Roo tried to walk over the entrance to go around the corner, he walked straight into Dingodile, who was doing to same thing. Rilla Roo staggered back, staring at Dingodile with wide eyes. Dingodile was doing the exact same thing as he was. Rilla Roo, as stupid as he was, thought that it was a mirror, and decided to test it out. He held his right hand up, at the same time Dingodile held up his left.  
  
Rilla Roo quickly stuck out his tongue, but Dingodile did the same thing. Rilla Roo jumped back and pouted, as Dingodile did the same thing. Both stood in silence for a few seconds before they both broke out into a tap- dancing fit. Both stopped suddenly at the same time.  
  
Rilla Roo came up with an idea that would fool his copy if it wasn't really a mirror. He darted away from the entrance as Dingodile did the same. Rilla Roo went into the room he was guarding and came out with a black derby hat. Holding it behind his back, Rilla Roo confidently walked in front of the entrance again, as Dingodile did the same. They turned to face each other and stood in silence before the each pulled a hat from behind their backs and placed on their own head. The only difference was that Rilla Roo's was a black derby and Dingodile's was a straw hat. Rilla Roo stared in silence, wondering what this meant.  
  
Both Rilla Roo and Dingodile pressed their faces against each other, staring straight into each other's eyes. Rilla Roo quickly raised his eyebrows, but Dingodile did the same thing. They continued doing this for a few seconds until Dingodile beat Rilla Roo over the head with his flame- thrower, rendering him unconscious.  
  
Dingodile quickly rushed from the unconscious figure and ran into the room the monkey was guarding.  
  
Inside the room, monitors were set up along a terminal, showing all of the security cameras in the castle. Dingodile walked over to the screens and looked at them, trying to find the rest of Cortex's minions. Suddenly, he spotted them. Pinstripe, Koala Kong and the Komodo Brothers were all together, talking in one of the hallways. Dingodile recognized the hallway from the accessories hanging on the wall, turned around and ran out of the room.  
  
Dingodile charged headfirst down the many corridors of the castle. He had a sinking feeling that he wouldn't survive this attempt, but he'd figured it would be worth it to avenge Coco. Dingodile ran through the hallways, clenching the handle of his flame-thrower, preparing to pull the trigger.  
  
Several minutes passed. Dingodile knew that he was approaching the hallway where he hoped the minions still were, and was preparing to dish out every attack he knew, mainly on the Komodo Brothers, as he remembered that he heard the sound of steel hitting flesh before Coco cried out in pain.  
  
Dingodile stopped when he came upon the final corner. He silently looked around the corner, and saw the four minions talking to each other. Dingodile smirked at his luck. They hadn't gone anywhere. Dingodile quickly pulled his head back and leaned against the wall.  
  
He breathed a few times as he readied his flame-thrower. "Well, double D, it's time." He whispered to himself. "Hopefully, you'll get through this."  
  
After breathing a few more times, Dingodile jumped from the corner and charged at the minions, shouting psychotically. All four of them turned to see a severely ticked-off Dingodile charging right at them.  
  
"DIE, MURDERERS!" Dingodile shouted as he pulled the trigger on his flame- thrower, quickly firing a ball of fire at Koala Kong, igniting his furry arm on fire.  
  
As Koala Kong started shaking his arm to put out the fire, the Komodo Brothers and Pinstripe readied themselves for the oncoming mutant, although still very surprised that Dingodile was alive.  
  
The Komodo Brothers were the first to react, each swinging their respective swords down in perfect synchronization. Luckily, Dingodile held up his flame-thrower, blocking each of the attacks at the same time. Dingodile quickly dropped to the ground, sticking his feet out. Komodo Moe was knocked off his feet, and while the rotund lizard was still in midair, Dingodile jumped and kicked himself off of the airborne Moe's back, launching himself at the younger brother. Dingodile flew overtop of Joe before bringing both feet down to strike Komodo Joe in the back, sending him to the floor.  
  
Dingodile turned from the fallen lizards to Pinstripe, who was getting ready to fire his machine gun. Dingodile proved smarter, however, as he aimed his flame-thrower at the floor, firing a wave of fire at Pinstripe, just as the gangster started firing his gun. The bullets struck the flame wave, but didn't make it any further. Dingodile ran close behind the wave, running closer to Pinstripe. The wave vanished from sight just as it reached Pinstripe, providing a route for Dingodile's fist. The was the first time he noticed that Pinstripe was sporting a black eye, probably from the fight from Coco before she was killed. Just the thought of that made Dingodile want to hit the villain even more. Dingodile struck Pinstripe in the face, on the opposite side that the black eye was. Pinstripe fell to the floor, and was knocked out after Dingodile slammed his foot into his back.  
  
Again, Dingodile turned around. The Komodo Brothers were starting to recover from the beating Dingodile had given them. Dingodile bravely turned around and charged at them. Again swinging his flame-thrower like a club, Dingodile struck Moe in the face before quickly turning around, swinging his flame-thrower like a golf club, striking Joe in the stomach, lifting his several inches off the ground. As Komodo Joe was recovering, Dingodile grabbed the evil lizard by the neck, turned around and threw Joe over his shoulder, making the thin lizard strike his older brother, knocking them both out.  
  
Breathing heavily, Dingodile turned around, seeing an enraged Koala Kong charging at him, shoulder first. Like before, Dingodile didn't have time to block it and took the blow. Dingodile was sent flying back, a concrete wall stopping him. As Dingodile fell to the floor, he left a fairly big hole in the wall. As little pieces of access concrete tapped against his head, Dingodile fell unconscious.  
  
To be continued...  
  
Author's notes: Sorry for the ridiculously short chapter, but I couldn't think of anything else to add.  
  
I can't believe how much feedback I've gotten for this story! Not just from the reviews, either. I've gotten e-mails for this story! I can't thank everyone enough for liking this story. I really appreciate it! 


	5. Coco's Attempt

Chapter five: Coco's Attempt  
  
Coco tore through the jungle using as much strength as she could. Taking the blow from Komodo Joe caused her to lose a fair amount of blood, and Coco had been feeling lightheaded, but did her best to ignore it. Her mind was too focused. She wanted to do something that Crash never could: Destroy Cortex. The mad scientist had done much to cause emotional torture to the female bandicoot, but having his goons kill Dingodile was far too much.  
  
Coco shoved branches out of the way as she ran through the thick bush of jungle. She had been running for hours with no sleep. The rain fell heavily, and the sky was so covered in clouds that no one would've been able to tell that it was actually morning.  
  
Finally, early in the morning, after hours and hours of running, Coco was finally able to see Cortex's castle. Feeling full of energy and anger, Coco narrowed her eyes and charged off towards the castle.  
  
However, Coco stopped herself when she came within the final several yards from the front door. She had noticed that the door was open, and wasn't sure if some of Cortex's minions were waiting just inside the door. She decided the try and find a alternate route into the castle, turned to her left and started working her way around the castle.  
  
Coco sneaked around the castle, quietly brushing away as she went along. She wanted to be careful just in case any of Cortex's men were patrolling around outside the castle.  
  
After a few minutes of searching, Coco finally managed to find an opening near the ground that she could fit in. After a quick inspection, she saw that it was air duct network for the first floor. She smirked to herself. The perfect way to get in without being noticed. Coco quickly leapt up a short distance, grabbing the grate covering the entrance to the duct. After pulling it off, it was just another simple jump before Coco was inside.  
  
Luckily, the inside of the duct was small enough for Coco to crawl through easily. She pulled herself through the ducts using her arms, constantly looking down the different paths to see which ways she could go.  
  
Coco felt like she was in a huge maze with several ways out. She wasn't sure where she'd end up, but she didn't really care either, just as long as she didn't end up in the hands of Cortex or his minions.  
  
After crawling for several minutes, Coco came across a grate on the floor of the duct, the first one she came across since entering the castle. Coco looked down through the grate and saw Pinstripe, Koala Kong and the Komodo Bros. talking. Coco suddenly felt a slight wince of pain coming from her shoulder, suddenly remembering how much that sword hurt as it sliced across her skin. After recovering from the pain, Coco continued crawling, as she knew far better than to barge in on a group of dangerous minions of Cortex.  
  
Crawling for a few more minutes, Coco came across another grate. Looking down through it, she saw nothing but Rilla Roo lying on the ground, seemingly unconscious. Wondering what could knock him out, Coco suddenly noticed that he was starting to wake up. Deciding to act quick, Coco got into a sitting position and thrust her foot into the grate with enough force to dislodge it. The grate fell from the duct until landing directly on Rilla Roo's back, knocking the mutant down again.  
  
However, this didn't knock him out. Coco quickly dropped down the hole in the grate, planting her feet into Rilla Roo's back, which still had the grate resting on it.  
  
*BONK!*  
  
"OUCH!!"  
  
Coco stood in silence for a few seconds before getting off Rilla Roo and examining his face, which was twisted in a strange expression with his eyes looking in two different directions and his tongue sticking out from between his teeth.  
  
{Did he just talk?} Coco thought to herself. Shrugging the thought off, Coco walked away from Rilla Roo, off in the opposite direction the other minions were.  
  
Coco wisely sneaked down the corridors of Cortex's castle by pressing her back against the walls that were shrouded in shadows. She continued for a good ten minutes before coming to a pair of large doors. Coco stared at them curiously.  
  
{Could these doors lead to Cortex?} Coco thought.  
  
Deciding to try it out, Coco quietly pushed open the door and sneaked into the room.  
  
Inside the room, Coco looked around. She was in what looked like a huge, spacious laboratory. While the room had tables of vials and such in the room, they were all close to the wall, leaving a huge space in the middle of the room, almost like a makeshift battle arena. There was a big, square- shaped hold in the floor directly in the middle of the room.  
  
Coco spotted another door on the other side of the room. She quietly sneaked across the room, thinking that she was as good as safe. That was, until.........  
  
"YOU!"  
  
Coco's eyes snapped open, instantly knowing the voice. Spinning to her right, she saw the short figure that was Dr. N. Gin standing by one of the tables, staring at her with wide eyes.  
  
"They told me you were dead!" N. Gin stated.  
  
"I'll show you how dead I am!" Coco growled as she charged at her rival.  
  
N. Gin knew that he'd never win against her unless he had help, so he did the only thing he could.  
  
He ran.  
  
Coco chased N. Gin into the middle, open part of the room. N. Gin charged towards the hold in the floor and jumped down. Coco instantly froze, wondering what would make him jump down a hole.  
  
Suddenly, she found out. She heard a loud clang coming from the hole, followed by the sound of an elevator moving. Suddenly, she saw N. Gin starting to rise from the hole. At first, she thought that the hole wasn't that deep, but that was before she saw what N. Gin was riding. Coco stood in shock as a mech five times her height armed to the teeth with weapons rose from the hole, standing on an elevator platform. N. Gin sat in the pilot's seat, laughing at Coco.  
  
"Not so tough now, are we?" N. Gin laughed. "I'll see to it that I finish what those other minions couldn't!"  
  
Coco's eyes widened even more when she saw six rockets fire from he back of the mech, starting to home in on her. Once the rockets were close enough, Coco leapt into the air, flipping over the rockets as they went by. All the rockets hit the wall on the other side of the room, resulting in several small explosions.  
  
{He's not going to give me an easy time.} Coco thought as she landed on the ground. {I have to find out how to destroy that thing.}  
  
Coco quickly reached into her backpack and pulled out her laptop. She dove out of the way to avoid one of the mech's fists slamming into the ground. Coco rolled on the ground, managing to prevent her precious laptop from being destroyed. As N. Gin was recovering from his own attack, Coco aimed her laptop at N. Gin and started typing.  
  
{Come on! Come on!} Coco thought, being very impatient with her laptop for once. {What's the weakness?}  
  
Suddenly, the right hand of the mech, which was shaped like a giant version of Pinstripe's Tommy Gun, looked like it was getting ready to start firing bullets. Coco quickly ran to the side, never taking her laptop off of the mech. As soon as she started running, bullets started firing from N. Gin's mech. Luckily, she was running fast enough to avoid the bullets. As soon as the bullets stopped firing, Coco stopped running.  
  
Coco looked down at her laptop, which she was still carrying. The process had finished and the laptop had located the weakness. Coco looked at the weakness, and suddenly, she narrowed her eyes in hopelessness. Coco quickly closed the laptop and put it back in the backpack.  
  
Coco ran at N. Gin, avoiding another swing from one of the fists. Coco ran around the giant mech until she arrived at the back. Before N. Gin had a chance to turn around, Coco jumped into the air and slammed her palm against a large button that said 'Do not press' on it. As soon as she pushed it, Coco ran to safety.  
  
N. Gin suddenly felt the mech starting to shake. It didn't take him long to realize what Coco had done. He sighed. "Why do we even HAVE that button?"  
  
Just as Coco dove behind a desk, N. Gin's mech exploded, sending the short scientist rocketing into the ceiling, instantly knocking him out. His head went through the ceiling, leaving him stuck there.  
  
Feeling triumphant, Coco quickly ran from the lab, out the door on the other side of the room.  
  
Coco sneaked through the next few hallways, feeling somewhat certain that she wouldn't run into any more of Cortex's minions, as she had seen most of them talking in another hallway.  
  
As she was passing a steel door, Coco suddenly saw a pair of shadows starting to emerge from around the far corner of the hallway. As the shadows came into view a little better, she saw that it was the Komodo Bros. Not wanting to risk another encounter with the blade-wielding lizards, Coco grabbed the handle of the door, quickly opened it and ran inside, quietly closing the door behind her.  
  
Inside the room, Coco placed her ear against the door, listening for the Komodo Bros. to pass. The pair's footsteps became louder as they approached the door, and quieter as they walked away from it.  
  
When she couldn't hear footsteps anymore, Coco felt that it was safe to leave the room, and was about to do so until she caught something out of the corner of her eye. Looking into the room, she saw something that made her eyes spring open in shock. Both hands flew to her mouth to prevent herself from gasping.  
  
She thought she was seeing a ghost.  
  
To be continued.........  
  
Author's notes: Again, sorry for the shorter chapter. I couldn't think of enough filler, and I only have a few more chapters to go. Sorry for taking so long to upload it as well. Please read and review! 


	6. Reunited

Author's notes: Thanks for all of the reviews! I can't believe how many I've gotten for the story!  
  
Note to Raiegki Leviathan: Thanks for sticking up for me against the flame. But don't worry, she didn't faze me at all. In fact, I actually enjoyed the flame, because it was the first one I ever, EVER got (besides one for my first fic because the guy didn't like the pairing)! And yeah, I got that N. Gin joke from the Emperor's New Groove. I remembered laughing my head off at that joke and realized that it was too good to pass up! Although it's not the only joke I used. Dingodile's 'mirror' trick with Rilla Roo is based off of a Marx Bros. bit.  
  
For those of you who may be confused with my selection of baddies to reform, let me explain. Like Raiegki said, Dingodile and Tiny joined Crash's side in Crash Bash, but unfortunately, that was Naughty Dog's last Crash game, so that plot element didn't stick. But one of the reasons I liked the game was the fact that two of my favourite Crash baddies were on the good side! And the reason Ripper Roo is on the good side is because we haven't heard from the poor guy in such a long time that I decided to put him to good use. As for Fake Crash, he joined Crash in Crash Bandicoot 2 for the GBA, which pretty much gave it away that he became good. Even in Crash Nitro Kart, FC is an unlockable character for Crash's team.  
  
Anyway, onto the story!  
  
Chapter six: Reunited  
  
Dingodile groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. He was instantly greeted with the unfriendly glow of a lamp hanging from the ceiling of the room he was in. He quickly closed his eyes again, wondering how long he had been out for. He tried to shield his eyes with his arm, but quickly realized that he couldn't move it. Come to think of it, he couldn't move his other arm either, and it felt like he was sitting on a chair.  
  
Dingodile moaned. Cortex's goons had tied him to a chair.  
  
Soon, Dingodile's eyes were well enough to open against the bright light coming from the lamp. He looked around. He was in a small room with a door behind him. The only piece of furniture in the room was the chair he was currently bound to. Dingodile looked around for his flame-thrower and spotted it sitting in the corner of the room, clearly out of his reach. He growled as he thought of some ways to get out of this situation.  
  
Minutes passed. Dingodile had tried almost everything. He tried snapping through the ropes using his strength, but the ropes were simply too strong for Dingodile to make the attempt. Dingodile couldn't bite any of the ropes, as none of them were within reach of his jaw. Pretty much the only thing he hadn't tried was topple the chair onto its side and inch his way to his flame-thrower, activating it to burn off the ropes around his wrists. Dingodile, however, didn't want to try this theory. Sure, he could set the thing to fire a quick burst of fire so it wouldn't burn his fur off, but lately, the flame-thrower had been acting up, so anything could happen.  
  
Dingodile muttered something under his breath, directing it mainly at himself. He couldn't believe that he could let himself get captured so easily. All because he took his eyes off that stupid koala for a second.  
  
Dingodile had been so wrapped up in blaming himself and Cortex's cronies that he never heard the door to the room open and close.  
  
The female bandicoot pressed her ear against the door, listening for the Komodo Bros. to pass. Once she heard their footsteps fade away, Coco exhaled in relief. She was about to leave when she spotted something out of the corner of her eye that look remarkably similar to Dingodile's flame- thrower. Looking into the room, Coco instantly spotted something that made her heartbeat stop: The one who supposedly died trying to protect her was alive, tied to a chair in the middle of the room. Both hands flew to Coco's mouth to prevent herself from gasping.  
  
When she finally overcame the shock, Coco released her grip on her mouth, although her eyes were wide and her mouth was open, the shock clear on the face. She slowly and quietly walked up behind Dingodile as she heard him scold himself.  
  
"I can't believe myself." Dingodile muttered. "I break into Cortex's castle and wallop Rilla Roo with no problem, but then I lose to a bunch of cheating freaks." He sighed sadly. "I've failed her. I can't believe I failed Coco."  
  
As Coco heard that, her shocked expression became one of disbelief. The corners of her mouth slightly turned up, turning her open mouth into a shocked smile. Dingodile was under the impression that she was dead, and fought as hard as he could to avenge her? She was touched. The mere thought of what Dingodile felt when he thought she was dead made a lone tear run down her face.  
  
"You didn't fail me, Dingodile." Coco said gently. "I just hope you haven't told anyone that I died yet."  
  
Dingodile's head snapped up, his eyes widening just as fast. {That voice!} He thought. {Could it be her?}  
  
Slowly looking over his shoulder, Dingodile found himself staring into the kind and beautiful eyes of the girl he loved. The girl he thought had been murdered.  
  
"Coco?" Dingodile asked, tears starting to form, half from happiness, half from disbelief.  
  
"Yes, Dingodile." Coco replied, instantly starting to untie his hands. "It's me."  
  
Once Dingodile was free, he stood up and turned around to stare at Coco with wide eyes, with Coco giving him a similar glare.  
  
"I...I don't believe it." Dingodile said. "I heard a sword and a yelp from you and thought the worst."  
  
"I saw you go down the cliff." Coco added, more tears coming from that memory.  
  
Almost instantly, Dingodile and Coco lunged at each other, throwing their arms around one another and sobbing tears of happiness to be together again.  
  
As Coco rubbed her head against Dingodile's chest, Dingodile ran his hand through Coco's hair several times, each of them promising themselves that they would never let anything like this happen again.  
  
"Coco, I'm so sorry for almost letting you down." Dingodile sobbed. "I was just so upset that you might have died before I confessed my feeling for you."  
  
"Your feelings?" A teary-eyed Coco asked hopefully, looking up at Dingodile's face.  
  
"Yes." He replied with a warm and relieved smile. "I love you, Coco. More than anything. And I'm so terribly sorry for not telling you sooner."  
  
"I'm so happy you feel that way, Dingodile." Coco replied. "I love you too."  
  
Dingodile couldn't believe what he was hearing. Coco just said that she loved him back! This was almost considered a miracle for him. He never would've thought that anyone could love someone like him. He wanted to continue hugging Coco, but suddenly remembered something vital.  
  
"Wait a minute! We never found out what Cortex is planning!" He whispered, not wanting to raise an alarm.  
  
Coco's eyes snapped open in realization. "Oh my gosh! That's right!" She replied.  
  
"Looks like we'll have to stick around a little longer." Dingodile said, wiping his tears away. "It's a good thing, because I want to get back at Cortex for everything he's done to us since we started this mission!"  
  
"Well, once we get this done, we'll be able to head back." Coco replied, also wiping her tears away. "And we'd better do it quick. This is the second day. Aku Aku should be getting ready to send out a search party for us soon."  
  
Dingodile nodded. He was about to turn around to grab his flame-thrower when he remembered something else. "Wait. I'd better give this to you before I forget." He said. Reaching one of his suspenders, he grabbed something that Coco hadn't noticed before: A blue flower. Dingodile pulled it from his suspender and held it out to Coco. "It's yours." He said. "I was going to keep it to remember you by, but now that you're not dead, I don't need it to remember you."  
  
Coco smiled as she gratefully took the flower and placed it back in her hair. As she did, Dingodile quickly retreated to the corner of the room to fetch his flame-thrower. He came back to her in a matter of seconds with the flame-thrower hanging on his back.  
  
"Ready?" Coco asked, smiling.  
  
"Ready, Coco." Dingodile grinned.  
  
The reunited pair walked towards the door as Coco pushed it open quietly. Once they were in the hallway, Coco shut the door as she and Dingodile quickly looked around a couple times to see if anyone was coming before sneaking down the hallway.  
  
Coco and Dingodile sneaked down the hallway for a couple minutes without encountering Cortex or any of his minions. For once, however, the duo would've liked to encounter Cortex's henchmen just so they could see what they looked like after losing two straight battles.  
  
While sneaking down the different hallways, Dingodile was the one to lead. This was because he had been in Cortex's castle in the past, and knew all the hallways like the back of his hand. Thus, Dingodile knew that he was leading them straight into Cortex's lab to see what the doctor was planning.  
  
However, after a good while of walking later, Dingodile suddenly stopped at a corner and held his arm out, preventing Coco from going any further as well.  
  
"What is it, Dingodile?" Coco asked.  
  
Dingodile responded by placing his finger to his mouth, indicating her to keep quiet. He pointed around the corner. Curiously, Coco walked over to the corner and dared to look around it. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw Cortex's five animal lackeys walking down the hallway. Unlike the last encounter they each had with them, none of them were talking.  
  
Coco pulled herself away from the corner and looked up at Dingodile. "It's those guys again." She whispered.  
  
Dingodile smirked. "You up for a little revenge?" He asked.  
  
Coco was silent for a few seconds before a smirk floated across her face as well. "You bet."  
  
As Dingodile cocked his flame-thrower and prepared to fire it, Coco cracked her knuckles and balled her hands into fists. Looking at each other one more time, the pair smirked and walked around the corner at the same time. They came to a halt after turning the corner completely, standing beside each other, facing the minions of Cortex. All of them saw the duo standing not too far away, froze in their tracks and remained silent, trying to realize how the two people they originally thought were dead were now standing down the hall, ready for a fight.  
  
After a few seconds of standing in silence, all the minions let out a loud moan.  
  
"Ah, man! We gotta fight them AGAIN?!" Pinstripe, now sporting two black eyes, complained.  
  
"They're gonna kill us again!" Komodo Joe, missing a few teeth, cried.  
  
"Can't we just flee in terror?" Komodo Moe, looking about the same as his brother, asked.  
  
"No. We must prevent them from defeating Cortex." Koala Kong replied, a good amount of his fur burnt a dull black.  
  
"Said the guy who did next to nothing in every fight we've had with these two!" Pinstripe accused. Rilla Roo, sporting a painful-looking lump on top of his head, snarled at the giant Koala in agreement with the gangster- wannabe.  
  
"Just drop it." The elder Komodo said, whipping his sword out in synchronization with his brother and pointing it at Dingodile and Coco. "Let's get them."  
  
Everyone, even Koala Kong, charged down the hallway, heading straight at the duo at the end. Dingodile smirked as Coco narrowed her eyes. Both of them remained unfazed and refused to budge.  
  
"Let's do a partner change." Coco suggested, not turning her gaze from the oncoming minions. "I'll take on the Komodo Bros. You take on Pinstripe and Rilla Roo. Whoever Kong goes for will take him on as well."  
  
"Are you sure you're alright to take the Komodo Bros.?" Dingodile asked, not looking at her.  
  
"Call it an act of revenge." Coco replied, rubbing her shoulder.  
  
Dingodile nodded as he gripped his flame-thrower tightly. He and Coco suddenly charged towards the oncoming minions, straight at the ones they were going to take on.  
  
Dingodile saw that Pinstripe was again getting ready to start firing his machine gun, so the half-and-half went for him first. As Pinstripe started firing the machine gun, Dingodile fired a reasonably big ball of fire from his flame-thrower, knocking all of Pinstripe's bullets to the ground. Dingodile continued by charging at Pinstripe, knocking him over using his shoulder, temporarily taking Pinstripe out.  
  
Looking over his shoulder, Dingodile saw his extremely-dense rival, Rilla Roo, lunging at him. Thinking quickly, Dingodile spun around and clobbered Rilla Roo using his flame-thrower. The monkey mutant was sent flying back several feet before landing on the ground.  
  
While Dingodile was having more of a melee-battle, Coco was more relying on skill. Using her extremely skilled gymnastic ability, Coco leapt over, ducked under, or dodged beside all of the swings the Komodo Bros. were dishing out, even sneaking in a punch or two. While they looked really weakened thanks to the state Dingodile left them in the last time they encountered him, the Komodo Bros. were both still extremely vicious.  
  
Coco saw Komodo Joe starting to try a low attack, while his elder brother was attempting a blow higher up. Thinking just as quick as Dingodile, Coco leapt into the air slightly and arched over Komodo Joe's sword, and under Komodo Moe's. Before landing on the ground, Coco delivered a quick kick to each of the Komodo Bros. chests, knocking them back a little bit.  
  
Coco quickly saw Koala Kong charging at her, preparing to attack. Coco, luckily, was much more intelligent than the giant koala, and performed a back flip, leaping high into the air as Koala Kong passed underneath. Coming down, Coco planted both feet against the giant bear's back, knocking him into Komodo Moe, sending them both to the ground.  
  
Rilla Roo swung his fist at Dingodile, but his opponent swerved to the side, dodging the blow. Dingodile countered with a punch of his own, his attack much luckier than Rilla Roo's, striking the monkey in the jaw. As Rilla Roo staggered back, Dingodile heard a psychotic yell coming from behind. Thinking quickly, Dingodile reached over his shoulder and grabbed Pinstripe's hand just as it was about to come into contact with his neck. With little effort, Dingodile threw Pinstripe over his shoulder, sending him flying into Rilla Roo, knocking them both out.  
  
Coco leapt into the air, bringing her foot up to strike Komodo Joe in the chin. Knowing her opponent's attack strategy, Coco quickly ducked in midair, dodging a cowardly sword attack from behind by Komodo Moe. Coco quickly thrust her feet out backwards, striking the elder Komodo in the face, sending him to the ground. Landing on her feet, she saw Komodo Joe recovering from her kick. Coco ran at the younger Komodo, leapt into the air and delivered a powerful karate chop to his neck. As Komodo Joe bent over in pain, Coco thrust her foot into his stomach as hard as she could, making the lizard finally collapse.  
  
Coco landed on her feet gracefully, looking at both of the downed Komodo Bros. Once she was certain that they were both knocked out, Coco exhaled in relief and brushed her hair out of her eyes.  
  
Suddenly, she felt something grab her from behind. Before Coco had time to react, she was lifted off the ground, the person holding her by the back of the collar of her shirt. She tried kicking whoever was holding her, but he was holding her too far away from his body. Coco sighed. She was caught, and knew that the person holding her was Koala Kong.  
  
"Traitor!" Koala Kong called to Dingodile.  
  
Dingodile, who had just finished his fight with Pinstripe and Rilla Roo, turned to see Koala Kong holding his girlfriend captive. Dingodile snarled at the enemy. "You let her go!"  
  
"Nothin doin, pal." Koala Kong replied, shaking his head. "Surrender or she dies!"  
  
Coco watched as Dingodile seemed to be pondering something. After a few seconds, he smirked slyly and winked at her. Coco raised an eyebrow, wondering what Dingodile was thinking of.  
  
She quickly found out, as Dingodile quickly spun to his right and shot a ball of fire from his flame-thrower. The ball of flames reflected off of Komodo Joe's sword, off a lamp hanging from the ceiling and ending by hitting Koala Kong's non-burned arm, igniting it in flames as he had done with the other one. Koala Kong dropped Coco and ran off screaming, trying to put out the fire on his arm.  
  
Dingodile rushed to Coco's side and helped her to her feet. "You okay, Coco?" Dingodile asked.  
  
"That was a very risky thing you did, Dingodile." Coco replied before smirking slightly. "But I'm glad you did it."  
  
Coco quickly hugged Dingodile before Dingodile spoke again. "Now let's take care of Cortex." He said with a smirk.  
  
Coco nodded as the duo turned around and walked away, leaving most of Cortex's minions unconscious.  
  
To be continued......... 


	7. Showdown

Chapter seven: Showdown  
  
Dingodile and Coco sneaked down the final hallways of Cortex's castle, Coco following behind Dingodile. The hybrid led Coco for two reasons: One, he knew Cortex's castle like the back of his furry hand. Two, he wanted to protect her just in case N. Gin appeared before they got to Cortex.  
  
Luckily, the latter reason wasn't needed, as the duo soon arrived at a dead end with a pair of doors at the end of the hallway. The two approached the door and lined up side by side, each pressing an ear to the door.  
  
"Gah! Why won't those stupid buffoons answer?!" They heard Cortex shout from the other side of the door.  
  
Dingodile grinned and gave Coco a thumbs-up. At least Cortex was still in there. He mouthed 'On the count of three' to Coco, who seemed to get the message, as she nodded.  
  
The duo lined their shoulders up with the door and signaled each other that they were ready. Dingodile counted on his fingers, going from one to three. After he hit three, he and Coco broke the silence by slamming into the doors with their shoulders.  
  
Coco smirked as the doors flew open. The plan had worked. She and Dingodile ran into the room.  
  
Inside the room, the duo saw Cortex standing with his back turned to them, facing a small TV screen, pounding on the buttons of a keyboard attached to it. The screen was attached to an enormous machine in the middle of the room, tall enough to reach the very high ceiling. About halfway up the machine was a small seat big enough for Cortex to sit on, surrounded by several switches and buttons.  
  
Once he heard the doors burst open, Cortex spun around, expecting to look at some of his minions. But what he saw instead was something that Cortex wouldn't expect. Dingodile and Coco, both of which his minions told were dead, running into the room, looking extremely mad.  
  
Cortex's eyes bulged to be almost as big as his head, if that was even possible. "I-Impossible! Y-You're both supposed to be dead!" He stuttered.  
  
"That's what you think!" Dingodile shouted.  
  
"For everything you've put us through, we take out your next plan before you harm anyone else!" Coco added.  
  
Cortex smirked. "We'll see about that."  
  
Cortex pulled a remote from his pocket and quickly pressed the button on it. Dingodile and Coco watched in surprise as Cortex lifted off the ground due to the jetpack he was wearing. Cortex pulled his familiar gun from his other pocket as he started flying around the room.  
  
"Get back down here!" Dingodile shouted, firing a ball of fire from his flame-thrower. Unfortunately, the fireball missed Cortex altogether.  
  
Dingodile growled. "He's going too fast!" He said. He turned to Coco. "We need to think of some way to slow him down!"  
  
"No problem!" Coco said as she reached into her backpack and pulled out her trusty laptop. "You stall him! I'll slow him down!"  
  
Dingodile instantly knew what Coco was planning and nodded, looking up at the mad scientist flying around the room.  
  
"Bring it on, shorty!" Dingodile taunted, knowing that would get Cortex's attention, as he hated the name 'shorty'.  
  
Cortex's eye twitched. "I'll show you 'shorty', Dingodile!" He roared as he flew downwards, straight at Dingodile, firing his plasma gun repeatedly.  
  
Dingodile wanted to get Cortex as far away from Coco as he could so she could slow him down, so he darted to the side, further from Coco. Cortex flew after the hybrid creature, just as Dingodile planned.  
  
As Cortex flew closer to him, Dingodile pulled his flame-thrower back like a golf club. As soon as Cortex flew within reach, Dingodile swung his flame- thrower, striking the doctor with amazing impact. Cortex flew backwards, spinning rapidly. Once he stopped spinning, Cortex held onto his head.  
  
"You'll pay for that!" Cortex growled.  
  
Not taking his eyes off Cortex, Dingodile tilted his head in Coco's direction. "How's it coming, Coco?" He asked.  
  
"Just give me a little more time." Coco instructed.  
  
Dingodile nodded as he readied his flame-thrower again. He saw Cortex reaching for the trigger of his plasma gun and decided to switch to defense.  
  
A ball of plasma shot from the barrel of Cortex's gun, sailing towards Dingodile. Dingodile jumped to the side as the energy shot flew past him. Cortex quickly fired another shot, which Dingodile avoided like the one before.  
  
Dingodile quickly found himself avoiding shot after shot. He narrowly avoided some of them, but he avoided them nonetheless.  
  
"Is that the best you got?" Dingodile taunted.  
  
Infuriated, Cortex flew at Dingodile, coming in strangely fast for a jetpack. Although Cortex was coming in fast, Dingodile stood his ground, gaze hardened.  
  
Once he decided that Cortex had gotten close enough, Dingodile leapt into the air and spun around, striking Cortex across the face with his tail. Cortex flew to the side, holding the side of his face where Dingodile had struck.  
  
"You finished yet, Coco?" Dingodile asked.  
  
"Almost." Coco replied, not taking her eyes off the laptop. "Just give me a little more time."  
  
Again, Dingodile replied with a nod. He was determined to give Coco as much time as he could, and wouldn't let Cortex stop that.  
  
Dingodile looked up and saw Cortex flying overhead. A sly smirk floated across his face, deciding to make Cortex nervous. Taking aim, Dingodile fired a ball of flames at Cortex, purposefully missing him to strike the ceiling close by. Cortex screeched to a halt in midair to avoid getting burned, did an instant 180 and flew in the other direction.  
  
As Cortex was flying away from him, Dingodile fired several shots, aiming at Cortex's jetpack. Unfortunately, they all missed.  
  
"He's still going too fast." Dingodile muttered. "Even I can't hit him like this."  
  
"I did it!" Coco cried.  
  
Hearing Coco, Dingodile smirked. He fired one more fireball at Cortex, this time striking the jetpack, igniting it instantly.  
  
Cortex screamed as his jetpack exploded, sending him straight into the floor. Unfortunately, he wasn't out yet. Cortex leapt to his feet and stared at Dingodile and Coco.  
  
"I don't understand how you two could still be alive." Cortex growled. "But I'll soon fix that. Soon, Crash will finally be destroyed and the world will be mine."  
  
"Over our dead bodies!" Coco shouted, stepping up beside Dingodile.  
  
Cortex smirked evilly. "Not exactly."  
  
Dingodile and Coco each raised an eyebrow, wondering what Cortex meant by that. In the meantime, Cortex ran towards the enormous machine and started to climb it. Neither Dingodile nor Coco knew how Cortex could climb a machine like that so fast. But that wasn't the main priority, as Cortex had already gotten to the seat high off the ground. He sat down and grabbed the controls, grinning vilely.  
  
"What are you up to this time, Cortex?" Coco challenged.  
  
Cortex simply continued grinning. "This machine is my best creation." He laughed. "It will allow me to destroy Crash using that best weapons possible!"  
  
Cortex steered a giant spiral laser attached to the controls to aim it at the duo.  
  
"His friends." Cortex finished.  
  
The mismatched pair's eyes sprang open. "You mean-" Coco began.  
  
"Yes." Cortex interrupted. "This machine will brainwash you both, making you both serve me!"  
  
"Forget it!" Dingodile shouted. "There's no way I'm working for you again!"  
  
"I was brainwashed before!" Coco added. "I'm in no mood for a second time!"  
  
"I'm afraid that neither of you have any choice." Cortex replied, pressing a few buttons.  
  
As the laser was starting to power up, Dingodile turned to look at Coco. "You think you can deactivate this thing?"  
  
Coco noticed a computer terminal attached to the machine, looked at Dingodile nodded. "If I'm given enough time, I should be able to override it."  
  
Dingodile was silent, thinking of how he could distract Cortex so he wouldn't notice Coco. He looked at Coco again. "Don't worry. I've got a plan."  
  
"Enjoyed your talk?" Cortex taunted. "Good, because you won't remember having it."  
  
Cortex pressed a button on the control panel, causing the laser to start glowing. Dingodile saw this, but his gaze was hardened, determined to give Coco enough time.  
  
Coco was shocked at what happened. As the laser fired a glowing, white beam of energy, Dingodile stood in front of her, protecting her from it. Dingodile cried out in pain as the laser beam slammed into his chest.  
  
"DINGODILE!" Coco screamed.  
  
Although he was in terrible pain, Dingodile looked over his shoulder at Coco. "DO IT! HURRY!!" He said through his teeth.  
  
Coco quickly nodded as she scrambled around Dingodile and charged over to the computer terminal. She quickly pressed a few keys on the keyboard and brought up a window that showed a bar on the screen, quickly filling up.  
  
Sweat dripped down Coco's face. She had to overrun the machine before the bar filled up, or Dingodile would become brainwashed.  
  
The young bandicoot furiously typed on the keyboard as fast as she could. She quickly saw that the bar was at fifty percent, so she tried typing faster. Coco felt that she had never typed this fast in her life.  
  
Coco saw that the bar had reached sixty-three percent. She was running out of time. Luckily, she was almost finished. She jabbed a few more keys and pressed the enter key, finally slowing the bar's speed. The bar kept on slowing until it finally came to a halt.  
  
At ninety-seven percent.  
  
Coco sighed in relief as she wiped her forehead.  
  
"Insufficient energy transferred." The computer said. "Extracting."  
  
Suddenly, the laser activated again, this time in reverse. Cortex tried to stop it, but failed miserably. The beam of energy pulled itself from Dingodile's chest until it was out completely. As soon as the energy had left him alone, Dingodile collapsed to one knee.  
  
Coco knew now that Dingodile would be alright, so she quickly turned back to the computer terminal and pressed a few keys more. After pressing the enter key again, another message showed up on the screen.  
  
"Thank you for activating the self-destruct sequence." The computer said. "Have a nice day."  
  
Coco quickly ran to Dingodile and helped him to his feet. "We need to get out of here!" She cried.  
  
Dingodile nodded as he led Coco to the side of the room.  
  
In the meantime, Cortex was futilely trying to stop the self-destruct sequence.  
  
Dingodile and Coco arrived at a window at the side of the room. A quick punch from Dingodile was all it took to take out the glass. He and Coco climbed on top of the windowsill and looked down. They saw nothing but trees.  
  
"Are you sure about this, Dingodile?" Coco asked. "There's a chance we could miss the trees!"  
  
"It's better than a positive chance of dying if you stick around with that machine when it blows!" Dingodile countered.  
  
Coco was silent, realizing that Dingodile was right.  
  
Although hesitant, Dingodile and Coco made a leap of faith, off the windowsill of the highest part of Cortex's castle, each plunging down towards the think bush of trees. And not a moment too soon, as an explosion erupted from the top of the tower, sending flames and smoke out of the windows.  
  
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Ripper Roo hopped through the forest, helping to search for Dingodile and Coco. The two days Aku Aku had given them had already expired, and everyone in the village and formed a search party, each searching a different part of the forest on route to Cortex's castle.  
  
While Crash, Crunch, N. Brio, Tiny, and Ripper Roo were searching on foot, calling out the duo's names (well, some of them, anyway), Pura, Polar and FC searched the forest, crawling around on all fours and sniffing the ground to try and pick up their scent (don't ask about FC. He's like that sometimes).  
  
Ripper Roo soon found himself closer to Cortex's castle than anyone else. The blue kangaroo-dog searched high and low, but couldn't find either of the duo that had gone missing.  
  
Ripper Roo sighed as he turned around to slowly sulk away. Suddenly, he saw something out of the corner of his large eye that made him freeze. Turning to the sight, both of Ripper Roo's eyes sprang open. He saw two lone figures hanging on a branch, each of them unconscious. Both were beaten and bruised.  
  
Throwing himself into a state of panic, Ripper Roo screamed in worry as he started hopping in circles. He suddenly realized that he'd need help getting the two down, so Ripper Roo turned tail and bounded back into the jungle, hoping that he'd find another member of the search party soon.  
  
Luckily, the search was short. Ripper Roo saw Crunch searching through some bushes. Ripper Roo let out a loud "YAH!", causing Crunch to jump in surprise.  
  
Turning around, Crunch saw Ripper Roo standing there. "What do you want, Ripper?" He asked.  
  
Jumping in place, Ripper Roo started pointing in the direction he came from, laughing. In his language, he was telling Crunch that he found Coco and Dingodile, but unfortunately, the large bandicoot didn't understand.  
  
"Sorry Ripper." Crunch said, turning back around to face the bushes. "But we've gotta continue searching for Dingodile and Coco."  
  
Ripper Roo growled in frustration. He had to think of some way to get Crunch to follow him.  
  
Suddenly, a light went on inside Ripper Roo's head. Pulling his foot back, Ripper Roo gave it a few good spins before swinging.  
  
*PUNT!*  
  
"HEY!" Crunch shouted, turning around while rubbing his behind, where Ripper Roo had kicked him.  
  
Ripper Roo stuck out his tongue and taunted the giant bandicoot.  
  
"Why you little-" Crunch growled, lunging at Ripper Roo.  
  
Luckily, Ripper Roo turned tail again and bounded off, with Crunch following closely behind.  
  
Crunch chased the demented kangaroo hybrid through the jungle, determined to give him a good pounding. However, when Crunch emerged from the jungle, he saw a sight that made his eyes widen. Ripper Roo was standing on the ground, in between two unconscious bodies draped over a tree branch.  
  
"Good grief!" Crunch said, turning to the jungle. "Crash! Tiny! Anybody!" He called out. "Ripper Roo found them!"  
  
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Dingodile groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. He expected to find himself in the cold, unforgiving jungle, but was surprised when he saw that he was in a very familiar doctor's office with several worried figures standing over him.  
  
"Well, well, well." Crunch chuckled. "Look who's finally awake."  
  
Dingodile tried moving his arms, but found that he couldn't bend his right one. Looking over, he saw his arm in a cast.  
  
"What happened?" Dingodile asked. He saw Crash running from the room.  
  
"When Crunch and Ripper Roo found you, you were both very injured. It was almost as if you jumped from the top of Cortex's castle." Dr. Tork replied as he came over with a clipboard.  
  
"That's actually exactly what happened." Dingodile explained. "It was the only way we could escape the castle before Cortex's machine exploded."  
  
Everyone nodded in understanding as Dr. Tork looked through at the clipboard. "Your injuries included a broken arm, two broken legs, one leg being broken in three different places, and a couple broken ribs." He explained.  
  
"What about Coco?" Dingodile quickly asked, worried about her.  
  
"I'm not too bad, Dingodile." A voice replied. Dingodile turned to see Coco limp into the room with a pair of crutches with Crash beside her.  
  
"One broken leg, both arms broken, one at the wrist and one at the elbow, and a minor concussion." Dr. Tork explained, looking through the clipboard some more.  
  
"Well, we're glad to see that you're both alright." N. Brio said. Everyone else nodded. "We'd better leave you two alone."  
  
Crash, Crunch, Aku Aku, Tiny, N. Brio, FC, Pura, Polar and Dr. Tork all turned around and walked out of the office, leaving Dingodile and Coco alone.  
  
"You feeling alright?" Dingodile asked as Coco sat down at the end of the bed he was laying on.  
  
Coo nodded with a slight smirk. "Yeah, but I'm just surprised that I woke up before you. I mean, I was the one to get the concussion."  
  
Dingodile chuckled, then sighed. "It looks like we won't be going on any missions for a while."  
  
Coco shook her head. "That's alright." She replied. "As long as we're together, I'm fine with it."  
  
Dingodile nodded. "Just so that we don't fall under the impression that the other's dead, I can work with it." He joked.  
  
Coco chuckled lightly, then moved a little closer. She gently hugged Dingodile, not want to injure herself further with her two broken arms. "Thank you for everything, Dingodile."  
  
"No problem, Coco." Dingodile replied with a grin.  
  
END  
  
Author's notes: Now, I'm sorry if the story didn't end the way you wanted it too, but I just ran out of ideas for this thing.  
  
Well, I'm finally done this, so I can get to work on another multi-chapter story!  
  
Don't worry. My work in this section isn't done. My next Crash fic is a one shot starring Norm.  
  
Please read and review! 


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